About Flagpole. (Athens, Ga.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (July 13, 1988)
<T- J/M2€3> OF — OAK4-t> £~ MAeTVA€.t> fbp- *Pf^*l8«/nt^2» fiPG& TtolZreSGAftty T& Late last night the body of Patrik Keim was found in a ravine. He had been badly beaten and stabbed several times in the abdomen. A typed note pinned to the opened fly of his trousers read: "The underworld has no bounds. The Day of Last Judgement will release the Dead. Repentance is at hand. Amen. Now Mg. control your words." It seems that illegal intimidation, illegal confiscation, and illegal harassment (witnessed by many, yet denied by public officials) was not enough. It's strange how a simple gimmick like the use of a swastika on one of $hackler's past band announcements could cause such a clamor then, and even lead to several calls of "boycott", while the real Nazi-like methods recently carried out by government .employees have been left to run rampant. Those iron-fist tactics have triumphed unfortunately (Flagpole has been beaten and stabbed to death too). The truly obscene, lacking any humor what so ever, infiltrates into everyone * s life now, no "zone" is left uncensored. Psychological control of expression is underway. Next time, before anything is said or written, you'll think to yourself: "Will I be victimized with harassment, threatened publicly with criminal charges, or even bludgeoned and gutted like a hog at the slaughter house." Yes, dear innocent one, you too may eventually cross that ambiguous line of expressive freedom. And guess what, as long as you're the only one to disappear, it seems most people won't be concerned (at least not until the public officials knock on each and every front door, including theirs, in the middle of the night). Afterall, it's summer in Athens and there's nothing better to do — why not a little Absurd entertainment round up?" Why not?! "Body of Patrik Keim" Photo credit: Peter M. Frey
